Mumbai Crime: Quartet rapes and kills woman after petty fight

Cops say the four men held a grudge against the woman after she verbally abused them a few days ago

In a ghastly act of avenging the insult they felt they were subjected to a few days ago, a quartet abducted a 45-year-old from her Vasai residence in the wee hours of Monday and raped the woman before murdering her.

The accused later dumped the body into a nearby nullah. Officials from Waliv police station said they arrested Shankar Chauhan, Mahesh Chauhan, Sangam Lal Kullu Morya and Shailendra Dubey on Tuesday.

All four were booked under Sections 302 (murder), 376 (d) (gang rape), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 366 (kidnapping) and 323 (assault) of Indian Penal Code. They were later produced in the court and are currently in police custody.

The incidentPolice officials said the victim resided at Vasai with her husband (52) and two children and ran a vegetable stall in Nallasopara. They said the woman had bickered with the accused a few days ago, during which she hurled abuses at them.

Since that day the quartet, which resides in the neighbouring locality, held a grudge against her and were seeking revenge. On Sunday, two of the accused barged into the victim’s residence and thrashed her husband with sticks. They then kidnapped the woman and took her to a rented flat where the other accused were waiting.

A police officer said, “The took turns to rape her. In a desperate attempt to destroy the evidence, they decided to kill the woman in the morning. One of them went out and brought a huge stone, using which they smashed her head. They then dumped her body into a nearby nullah.”

Cops said it was the victim’s husband who caught two of the accused with the help of locals. Another officer said, “He was searching for his wife since Monday. It was on Tuesday that he found her saree in the nearby woods. He then took help of the locals and nabbed two of the men he suspected of kidnapping his wife, from their homes.

The duo confessed to their crime after they were thrashed by the locals and even revealed the whereabouts of the other two. The locals then informed us about the incident, following which we nabbed the other two accused.

Though the woman’s body had travelled a long distance due to heavy rains on Sunday night, it was recovered by the fire brigade from the same nullah behind Platinum hospital in Bhoidapada.”